Inverlochy Castle-Renewal of Vows
One of the most rewarding parts of this job is seeing couples that truly love each other more than anything in the world and being able to work with them to help them celebrate their love for each other.
We see a lot of couples coming to Scotland from overseas looking to tie the knot, or in this case, celebrate their 10 year wedding anniversary.
I was contacted by Trent who was travelling back to Scotland with his wife Virginia all the way from California. They were coming back to celebrate 10 long and happy years together and staying at Inverlochy Castle – the place they had been married. Trent decided that he wanted to surprise his wife with a renewal of vows ceremony and I was more than happy to help.
I arrived at Inverlochy castle with the script ready for the ceremony and I couldn’t wait to meet Trent and Virginia – and to see the look on her face when she realised what was going to happen and why I was standing there.
Virginia had only been told that they would be having a nice lunch to celebrate their 10 years together and by coincidence she had brought with her her wedding dress (to surprise Trent) that she had worn 10 years previous. Jane, the hotel manager persuaded Virginia to wear her dress to lunch without giving away the secret! And this turned out to be a lovely surprise for her husband!
The couple walked into the room and I introduced myself and explained why I was there. They both looked delighted and we started the ceremony. The couple were the only people present at the ceremony so it was very intimate and it was so uplifting seeing how happy they were together after all these years. We included some traditional Scottish symbolic wedding gestures as part of the ceremony – drinking from the quaich and a traditional handfasting to tie the ceremony back to Scotland and to welcome them back to our country.
We finished of the ceremony, the couple kissed, sipped champagne and then they took to their seats in the parlour to enjoy a lovely lunch which was prepared especially for them by the chef at Inverlochy Castle.
A truly magical day, which I’m sure, will be remembered for the rest of their lives.
